An Update

Hey everyone,
I'm having technical issues, so I can't put the pictures up right now.  But I will eventually.

I just wanted to write and give you all an update on what I've been up to.  Last weekend, I felt extremely overwhelmed.  If I had blogged, it would have been depressing, so be glad I didn't.

Today, I feel awesome.  I'm typing as fast as I can trying to get things done. I'm speaking at the South Anchorage Rotary (per special request of someone who saw my speech at the Palmer Rotary- woohoo!) a week from Thursday, so I'm trying to revise my speech according to what we noticed from the recording of it.  That's going kind of slow, I'm just so scattered I need to organize myself.  But other than that I'm getting a lot done in the areas of self-improvement, FFA info. study, and practice interview questions.  Go me!

One of the reasons I feel so on fire today is a chapter I read in the book "The 17 Essential Qualities of Team Player," by John C. Maxwell.  The chapter is all about discipline, and here are a few of the quotes I loved:

"Discipline is doing what you really don't want to do so that you can do what you really want to do."  

"A person lacking discipline is in a prison without bars." 

"Discipline means doing the reight things at the right time for the right reason."

And Maxwell also included a quote by Thomas Huxley, which I really liked:

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like or not, it is the first lesson that ought to be learned, and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." 

This whole chapter made me think.  I've always prided myself on my discipline.  One of my favorite things in the world is to tackle a long a difficult piano piece and work at it slowly but surely until I've memorized it and performed it.  I take many things in my life very seriously and have to be disciplined with my time in order to achieve all I set out to do.

But lately, I haven't been very disciplined in my actions.  I find myself watching TV instead of fulfilling my goal of exercising, and putting off practicing piano in favor of reading, until it's too late to practice anymore.  Even my preparation for National Office, which admittedly I have been doing more than at college, is still lacking discipline.  But that chapter has inspired me, and I am excited to take over my thoughts, emotions and actions once more.

Last post I told you I was trying to decide on a goal for the month of June, and now I have.  It's a huge one, one I'm sure that I'll work on for the rest of my life, but this week I'm focusing on loving people better.  There are many people who I know that are trying to change and do right things, but it's hard for me to allow them to change.  I have a really difficult time letting go of grudges and I need to spend time trying to see the good in everyone and truly love them.  I'm guided by this awesome anecdote about Clara Barton (which, incidentally, can be found in "Developing the Leader Within You," by John C. Maxwell):

Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, understood the importance of choosing a right attitude even in wrong situations.  She was never known to hold a grudge against anyone.  On time a friend recalled to her a cruel thing that had happened to her some years previously, but Clara seemed not to remember the incident.

"Don't you remember the wrong that was done to you?" the friend asked.

 "No," Clara answered calmly, "I distinctly remember forgetting that."

Have an awesome Tuesday,
Rachel